Hagiography of a Yogi 163
sage, whose identity remains hidden. The subsequent chapters are therefore filled
with a sense of latent expectation. As we encounter the vast array of superpow-
erful Yogis, we must inevitably continue to ask along with Yogananda: “Is this
my guru?”
The Autobiography is ruled, if not by a divine plan, then at least by a sense
of long- spanning synchronicity. Yogananda’s narrative works to highlight occur-
rences that might have otherwise appeared meaningless and to organize events
that in themselves may be striking but gain even further import through mutual
association. One of Yogananda’s earliest memories is being miraculously healed
of a near fatal case of Asiatic cholera by an image of his parents’ guru, Lahiri
Mahasaya. As the reader will soon discover, the legacy of Lahiri Mahasaya will
continue to exert a significant, though initially subtle, influence on Yogananda’s
path. Despite his wide- ranging spiritual explorations, he ultimately finds himself
situated within the same Kriya Yoga lineage into which his father first initiated
him at the age of thirteen and which stems from the same guru whose image inex-
plicably saved his life at the age of eight.
There appear to be a number of events in Yogananda’s earlier life that set him
on the path of a spiritual seeker. He recounts four such experiences in the ini-
tial chapters of his work: the miraculous healing by means of Lahiri Mahasaya’s
image; a vision of the Himalayan Yogis and the divine effulgence of Īśvara, the
Lord; his accidental magnification of his sister’s boil, coinciding with the mani-
festation of a boil of his own; and the episode of the two kites obtained through
devotion to the goddess Kālī. These experiences serve to illustrate Yogananda’s
realization of the power of the guru, the divine absolute, individual will, and
devotion, respectively. However, although Yogananda is from an early age aware
and desirous of powers that transcend the ordinary, his ambition to become a
Yogi does not appear to fully manifest until the death of his mother.
Yogananda’s mother passes away suddenly and unexpectedly when he is only
eleven. Her death is an irreparable loss to the entire family but is especially dev-
astating to the young Yogananda. However, with the death of his mother and
thereby of his strongest earthly love comes a revelation of destiny. Yogananda is
overcome by an intense longing, which becomes channeled into a restless spiri-
tual ardor. He must go to the Himalayas. The mountains, representative of the
Yogis who reside therein, become a lifelong beacon. Yogananda demonstrates his
resolve with the first of many failed attempts to flee to the legendary site, but he
is quickly retrieved by his eldest brother. However, even as his “heart wept for the
lost Mothers, human and divine,”^22 his brother reveals to him a message that fur-
ther galvanizes his conviction to become a Yogi. On her deathbed, his mother had
delivered a revelation, to be passed on to Yogananda a year after her death. When
Yogananda was still an infant, she took him to see the great Lahiri Mahasaya, who